‘Elon Manipulates’ Sam Altman Takes A Dig At Musk Over Apple-OpenAI Accusations; Internet Brings Popcorn

Another e-lafda is loading, with Sam Altman taking a swipe at Elon Musk over his remarks on Apple’s App store. The Tesla’s billionaire boss earlier tweeted, “Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation.” He further warned, “xAI will take immediate legal action.”

In yet another tweet, Musk lambasted the Apple App Store for keeping X/Twitter and Grok as well from the top five rankings in the “Must Have” sections.

Hey Apple App Store, why do you refuse to put either 𝕏 or Grok in your “Must Have” section when 𝕏 is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps?”

He asked,

Are you playing politics? What gives? Inquiring minds want to know.”

Reacting to Musk’s accusations, OpenAI’s co-founder and boss Sam Altman took a dig at former pal Elon. He wrote,

This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like.”

Altman further wrote,

I hope someone will get a counter-discovery on this. I and many others would love to know what’s been happening.”

He added,

But OpenAI will just stay focused on making great products.”

Reactions poured on X/Twitter with users picking sides. Some defended Musk arguing if indeed he was manipulating the bird app, then how come Altman’s posts show up on the feeds? Others dropped popcorn memes in the replies.

Both Musk and Altman-led companies unveiled their latest iteration of respective AI tools, Grok 4 and GPT-5. Both the rivals are providing their AI bots services to the US government now. The relation between the former pals turned sour after Sam Altman’s decision to pivot away OpenAI from its not-for-profit status, drawing billions in investment from Microsoft. Elon Musk established xAI shortly after and launched Grok as a ChatGPT rival.

See Also: Elon Musk Targets Apple Over App Store Bias Allegations, Says, “Stop Playing Politics”

See Also: Watch: User Shows How Grok 4 Can Identify Plants On A Hike; Musk Says ‘It Can Even Read Doctor’s Writing’

Cover: Patrick Gawande / Mashable India